Getty Images Now Allow Free Use

Long being renowned for being aggressive litigators of bloggers using images without buying rights, Getty has annouced that it is joining the 21st century and is making millions of it’s images available to legally embed for free.

Now, there are some caveats involved. You are not allowed to use them for commercial purposes (so sticking them on a sales page or a squeeze page would be a big no-no) and you have to use the embed code.

Here are the rules:

You may only use embedded Getty Images Content for editorial purposes (meaning relating to events that are newsworthy or of public interest). Embedded Getty Images Content may not be used: (a) for any commercial purpose (for example, in advertising, promotions or merchandising) or to suggest endorsement or sponsorship; (b) in violation of any stated restriction; (c) in a defamatory, pornographic or otherwise unlawful manner; or (d) outside of the context of the Embedded Viewer.

So, if you stray from that…I reckon they will be down on you like a ton of bricks…but play within the rules and you suddenly can bring all of your blog posts to life. It does not finish at blogging either.  Here is what the company said whilst announcing this…

Through the embed tool, individuals can draw on Getty Images’ latest news, sports, celebrity, music and fashion coverage; immense digital photo archive; and rich conceptual images to illustrate their unique passions, ideas and interests. This innovation opens one of the largest, deepest and most comprehensive image collections in the world for easy sharing, thereby making the world an even more visual place.”

CEO Jonathan Klein said, “Images are the communication medium of today and imagery has become the world’s most spoken language. Whether via a blog, website or social media, everyone is a publisher and increasingly visually literate. Innovation and disruption are the foundation of Getty Images, and we are excited to open up our vast and growing image collection for easy, legal sharing in a new way that benefits our content contributors and partners, and advances our core mission to enable a more visually-rich world.”

Yes.. he actually said “Blog, Website or Social Media”

Here are a few images so you can see how they look

Now, not all images are allowed for embedding. To find an image, first search your keyword at http://www.gettyimages.com, then hover over the images to find the embed symbol. It looks like this </>. Click on that to get the embed code. It is then as easy as putting a You Tube embed code on your site.

Let me know in the comments if this is something that you will use.